Admissions
Admissions Process
On this page you will find guidance of how to apply for places in Year 7 and how to approach a potential change of school.
If the information below does not answer your questions, please contact us on Admissions@soham-college.org.uk and we will do our best to assist you. Enquires during school holidays will be answered when school reopens.
Applying for a place in Year 7 for a September start:
For applications in the normal admissions round you should use the application form provided by your home local authority (regardless of which local authority the schools are in). You can use this form to express your preference for a maximum of 3 state-funded schools, in rank order. Parents/Carers living in Cambridgeshire can apply online via the button below.
You will receive an offer for a school place directly from your local authority.
In the event of us being over-subscribed, applications are allocated according to our over-subscription criteria:
Admission Criteria
All children, whose Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) names the school, will be admitted before any other places are allocated.
In the event that the school receives more applications than the number of places it has available, places will be given to those children who meet any of the criteria set out below, in order until all places are filled.
- Highest priority will be given to looked after children and all previously looked after children who apply for a place at the school.
- Children living in the area served by the following primary schools with a sibling (as defined in criteria 4) already at the College at the time of admission:
Burwell Village College (Primary); Fordham CofE(C) Primary School; Isleham CofE(C) Primary School; Kennett CP School; St Andrew’s CofE(VC) Primary School, Soham; The Shade Primary School, Soham; The Weatheralls CP School, Soham.
- Other children living in the area served by the primary schools listed in 2.
- Priority will next be given to children with siblings at the school. Siblings include step siblings, foster siblings, adopted siblings and other children living permanently at the same address. Priority will not be given to children with siblings who are former pupils of the school.
- Children not living in the area served by, but who are attending, the primary schools listed in 2.
- Priority will next be given to children of staff at the school, in either of the following circumstances:
a) The member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made, or
b) The member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage. - Children not living in the area served by the primary schools listed in 2, but who live nearest the College as measured by a straight line.
If the school is not oversubscribed, all applicants will be offered a place.
In the case of 2 or more applications that cannot be separated by the oversubscription criteria outlined above, the school will use the distance between the school and a child’s home as a tie breaker to decide between applicants. Priority will be given to children who live closest to the school. Distance will be measured in a straight line from the child’s home address as determined by the National Land and Property Gazetteer to the school’s front gates on Sand Street. These distances are produced by the LA Admissions team for the school. For families who live outside the area covered by the Cambridgeshire mapping system, distances are determined using a combination of local maps and online resources. A child’s home address will be considered to be where they are resident for the majority of nights in a normal school week.
Where the distance between 2 children’s homes and the school is the same, random allocation will be used to decide between them. This process will be independently verified.
A copy of our school's Admissions policy can be found here:
More information and an application form can be found here:
In-year applications (moving secondary schools)
You can apply for a place for your child at any time outside the normal admissions round. As is the case in the normal admissions round, all children whose EHCP names the school will be admitted.
Likewise, if there are spaces available in the year group you are applying for, your child will always be offered a place.
If there are no spaces available at the time of your application, your child’s name will be added to a waiting list for the relevant year group. When a space becomes available it will be filled by one of the pupils on the waiting list in accordance with the oversubscription criteria listed in section 6.2 of this policy. Priority will not be given to children on the basis that they have been on the waiting list the longest.
Applications for in-year admissions should be sent to the following address:
The LA Admissions Team: email: admissions@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or telephone 0345 045 1370
To enquire about a possible school move please, contact us on admissions@soham-college.org.uk and we will do our best to advise you. Enquires during school holidays will be answered when school reopens.